Book Review - The Things That Will Not Stand

The Things That Will Not Stand

By Michael Gerard Bauer

Okay, it’s been 4 hectic months since I’ve posted here, and I have made a goal; to post here at least once a week for 2 months.

Here’s post number one

Until last night, I hadn’t read a book for 2 months. I know. 2 months. I dont think that’s ever happened. Sure I started plenty of books, but none of them stuck. I just couldn’t do it. That is until last night. I thought maybe I’d try something shorter, so I picked up a book called The Things That Will Not Stand, which is about 200 pages long, and read the whole thing in one go. WOW it was good. It was so good, I got inspired to come back on here after 4 months and write a post about it.

So from the surface, it seems to be that cliche, boy meets girl rom-com,

but this is the first original take on it I’ve seen for a while.

Here’s the blurb:
Sebastian is at a university open day with his best friend Tolly when he meets a girl. Her name is Frida, and she’s edgy, caustic and funny. She’s also a storyteller, but the stories she tells about herself don’t ring true, and as their eventful day together unfolds, Sebastian struggles to sort the fact from the fiction.
But how much can he expect Frida to share in just one day? And how much of his own self and his own secrets will he be willing to reveal in return?

As you can see, it is a little bit of a cliche romance, but I’m a sucker for these stories. In each chapter, one of the three make up some sort of bullsh*t story, and despite their fictitious contents, they get to know each other. This book is about the beauty of strangers, the freedom to make up any story, and be anyone, when you’ll never see them again. It’s about the fun of lying, and in contrast, the depth, intensity, and vulnerability of telling the truth. The cover, featuring an iceberg, perfectly summarizes the story. It’s about realizing the complexity of every stranger you pass on the street (theres a word which means exactly that: sonder).

This book just made my heart happy and I wanted to share that with all of you, which forced me to resurface on this site to write this review. I hope you’ll read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

2 comments

loquacious ( ləˈkweɪʃəs/ )
adjective: tending to talk a great deal; talkative. Often about things only the speaker finds interesting.
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My thoughts on all things bookish (and some other stuff I think is cool)